Missing woman Heather Schwab's remains are found in her boyfriend Chad Christopher Stevens' fridge: Cops searched his home a year after she was last seen after his his ex-wife said she heard him say he killed her and buried her in his yard

The body of a Texas woman who has been missing for months was found inside of her boyfriend's fridge, heavily decomposed, cops say. 

Heather Schwab's mother Tammra went to the police in June to tell them that her daughter hadn't been heard from in months and that she was in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Chad Christopher Stevens. 

The case appeared to be cold until November 3rd until Tammra went back to the police to tell them that Stevens' ex-wife and his daughter had key information about the disappearance. 

He had apparently told them that Heather was dead and buried in his backyard. 

On November 12, McKinney police obtained a search warrant for Stevens' home, inside they found a fridge in his kitchen that was covered in 'copious' amounts of plastic wrapping. After that discovery, Heather's body was found. 

Stevens, 42, told police that Heather, 35, died inside of his home in June 2022 and that he did not know what do with her body. He was arrested on the spot on evidence tampering charges. 

Tammra Schwab told investigators that her daughter's relationship was full of abuse and that Heather told her multiple times that she felt as though Stevens would kill her eventually. The mother-and-daughter hadn't spoken in a year. 

'Tammra stated on multiple occasions in the past, Heather had stated to her that Chad would kill her and hide her body somewhere,' one section of the affidavit reads. 

She added that the couple's neighbor would let the worried mother know when they had seen Heather around their community.  

When police initially interviewed the suspect back in June, he told them that Heather had broken up with him a year previously and that he didn't know where she was now. 

It wasn't until November 4 when Stevens' daughter, Briana, told the police that two days earlier, she got into an argument with her father which resulted in him threatening to kill her. 

The daughter said that she rarely spoke to her father but decided to call him on November 2 to tell him that she was pregnant. 

'Briana advised that Chad was very upset and threatened to kill the baby if she did not have an abortion and even threatened to kill her,' the affidavit reads.  

Briana told investigators that she told her father he should not threaten others because 'people will believe him and take him seriously.' He told her that he was serious about his threats. 

Around this point, Briana also mentioned that she knew Heather had gone missing. 

'Oh, so you think I killed her?' he responded, according to the affidavit. Briana said that Stevens went in to a rant and began badgering his daughter about how she knew about his backyard, even though she hadn't mentioned his yard. 

Stevens then said that 'even if [he] had had done something to Heather, he would only get five years in prison for hiding the body and he knew that because he had researched it.'

His daughter and ex-wife made it clear that Stevens brought up his backyard on multiple occasions during the conversation on November 2. 

At one stage in the conversation he sarcastically stated that Heather's body was buried in the backyard, the complaint alleges. 

During their search on November 12, investigators found many of Heather's belongings including her laptop and cellphone. 

Just three days before the search warrant was executed, Stevens was hit with an assault charge involving a separate relationship. That woman said that she met Stevens in June 2022 and moved in with him three months later. 

That woman alleged that Stevens attacked her when she left him in January 2023, reports WFAA. 

According to police, Stevens put great efforts to obscure the fridge from anyone else, to the extent that he put a large piece of sheet rock in front of it. 

'During the execution of the Search Warrant, a refrigerator which was wrapped in copious amounts of plastic wrap was located in the kitchen of the residence,' the complaint reads.

'The sole entry to the kitchen had been suspiciously closed and concealed from the remainder of the residence with a piece of sheet rock. Inside the refrigerator, a small statured human body was located.' 

In the wake of Stevens' arrest, one neighbor described his strange behavior in an interview with NBC Dallas. 

'It could have been a different woman, but a few months back, there was like a woman… She kind of like followed him around. Just like did whatever he did, but she was like always around, and then a couple of months later, you know, I like stopped seeing her, and I was like, "Okay, well, maybe they broke up or whatever happened,"' Carolina Murillo said. 

'He was like up at all times. Like any time I was going out, leaving the house, or coming in, like he was always outside. Just walking around doing stuff around the yard,' she went on. 

Another neighbor, Tony Miller, also pointed Stevens' eccentric activities. 

'Having plastic on his windows, not acknowledging too many people, that’s what it was. … Being parents who have to be aware what your surroundings are and with people like that you have to be suspicious,' he told Fox Dallas-Fort Worth. 

The Schwab family described themselves as 'beyond grief-stricken' following the gruesome discovery.  

'Her family is beyond grief-stricken and broken-hearted. We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers that our family is receiving. We are so grateful to the McKinney Police Department for their hard work and dedication in finding Heather. We would appreciate privacy for her family and children as we process through this devastating time,' Schwab's family told WFAA in a statement.  

 Stevens was last arrested in 2020 on assault causing serious bodily injury, criminal mischief, failure to appear and parole violation charges.